Penguin Cupcakes
I made penguin cupcakes and they are deformed and bloody adorable.
This all started because I was bored.
I was at work last night folding away, over and over and over and over again. Right sleeve, left sleeve, tuck, and fold. Right sleeve, left sleeve, tuck, and fold. Throw in an occasional pair of pants. Right sleeve, left sleeve, tuck, and fold. Right sleeve, left sleeve, tuck, and fold.
In the middle of one of those tucks, I got the idea to make a penguin out of two full sized cupcakes and a mini cupcake. I've been trying to figure out how to make a penguin cake for months. See, I love to bake. I do. I love penguins (*gasp of extreme shock* Laine likes penguins? Who knew?!). So I thought, "why not make a penguin cake?" It's not as easy as it sounds. I tried looking for cake molds that might work, but I couldn't find a penguin one. I did, however, find a 3D mold for a teddy bear that could have worked by cutting off the ears and re-shaping the arms, but it was $20, and I don't have $20 to waste on a teddy bear cake mold.
Anyway, last night, my co-worker was talking about how he had just ordered a Dora the Explorer cake for his niece's birthday and was then taunting his sister with the knowledge that he had ordered said cake, but didn't tell her it was a 3D cake (apparently it's a small three-tiered cake shaped like a mountain with Dora, Boots, and Swiper and some other Dora-esque things). She thinks it's a quarter sheet cake with a Dora decal. She was telling me about said cake earlier that evening (she was glad to have said cake because her daughter loves Dora and her party is all Dora and blahblahblah Doracakes), but I didn't know what it was at that point in time.
Long story less long *snerk*, that made me want some cake. Which made me want to bake some cake. That made me want to make cupcakes. So, I started to make a mental list on what I would need to get to make said cupcakes. Blah, blah, blah, random list of ingredi..."holy frick! I could make penguins out of cupcakes!" So, I got all excited and whipped out my little notebook that I use to write down info for when I answer the phone and drew a little diagram of how I could make the penguins.
Once I had my diagram all pathetically drawn out, I excitedly ran over to the electronics department to annoy tell my other co-worker about my penguin cupcake idea. He was all, "Laine, it so won't work." To which I replied, "fuck you, Oma; It'll work!" So we jab, jab, jabbered about how my cupcake idea would fail and the awesomeness of brownies with slightly nuked cookie dough spread on top. Yeah, I don't know either, but apparently he loves it.
When I got home last night, I had a new eagerness to make some cupcakes because I wanted to prove my co-worker wrong and show him that I could make a penguin out of cupcakes.
I went to the store today and bought a Funfetti cake mix (knife through my baker's heart, but I didn't have time to make one from scratch today) and some icing. I was going to buy some food coloring to make some vanilla icing black because I don't like chocolate, but food coloring is bloody expensive, so I ended up buying strawberry icing to use for the black feathers.
I got home and baked the cake, waited until they cooled and stared at said plain cakes trying to figure out how to decorate them without messing up the icing too badly. I usually stick to sheet cakes and round cakes, not shaped cakes, so I had no idea how to go about starting this.
I started by taking two of the full sized cupcakes and cutting off the top part.
I took those and placed one on top of the other, upside down, with a small layer of icing between them.
I then took the mini cupcake and turned it upside down and placed it on top of the other two with a little layer of icing between them.
After that, I placed some of the strawberry icing in some sandwich baggies and made icing pipes out of them. I piped some stripes of icing vertically across the body.
I then took the flat side of a butter knife and spread the icing using long strokes from the bottom to the top.
I did the same with the top and the belly and piped a strawberry line across the neck.
I then took some Christmas piping gel (yay, leftovers!) and made a sparkly red beak and some sparkly green eyes.
That's how my first one turned out. He kept wanted to fall back, though, because the back was heavier than the front. That's why the knife is sitting behind it. I had a thicker layer of icing in the back, so I took a Sour Patch Kid and shoved it under the penguin's butt so he would stand on his own.
My second attempt was a little better. I followed the same method as stated above, except instead of lines, I piped dots and spread the dots, and I added some feet made out of the heads of orange Sour Patch Kids.
Here's how he turned out.
My final attempt is my favorite. I tried to add some stability to the penguin by placing tooth picks in the cakes before icing them together. The first two leaned a little bit, but this one stayed true, so I guess it worked. YAY!
I did the same as I did with the second one, but instead of spreading out the dots, I left them that way. I think he looks the best.
From the side.
And a picture of all three of them together. I love seeing the differences in them from my first attempt to my third.
Take that, Oma! I did it!
All in all, I'm pretty proud of my penguin cupcakes. I think they're adorable. I would like to try again eventually. Maybe make them all like the third one. Who knows?
This all started because I was bored.
I was at work last night folding away, over and over and over and over again. Right sleeve, left sleeve, tuck, and fold. Right sleeve, left sleeve, tuck, and fold. Throw in an occasional pair of pants. Right sleeve, left sleeve, tuck, and fold. Right sleeve, left sleeve, tuck, and fold.
In the middle of one of those tucks, I got the idea to make a penguin out of two full sized cupcakes and a mini cupcake. I've been trying to figure out how to make a penguin cake for months. See, I love to bake. I do. I love penguins (*gasp of extreme shock* Laine likes penguins? Who knew?!). So I thought, "why not make a penguin cake?" It's not as easy as it sounds. I tried looking for cake molds that might work, but I couldn't find a penguin one. I did, however, find a 3D mold for a teddy bear that could have worked by cutting off the ears and re-shaping the arms, but it was $20, and I don't have $20 to waste on a teddy bear cake mold.
Anyway, last night, my co-worker was talking about how he had just ordered a Dora the Explorer cake for his niece's birthday and was then taunting his sister with the knowledge that he had ordered said cake, but didn't tell her it was a 3D cake (apparently it's a small three-tiered cake shaped like a mountain with Dora, Boots, and Swiper and some other Dora-esque things). She thinks it's a quarter sheet cake with a Dora decal. She was telling me about said cake earlier that evening (she was glad to have said cake because her daughter loves Dora and her party is all Dora and blahblahblah Doracakes), but I didn't know what it was at that point in time.
Long story less long *snerk*, that made me want some cake. Which made me want to bake some cake. That made me want to make cupcakes. So, I started to make a mental list on what I would need to get to make said cupcakes. Blah, blah, blah, random list of ingredi..."holy frick! I could make penguins out of cupcakes!" So, I got all excited and whipped out my little notebook that I use to write down info for when I answer the phone and drew a little diagram of how I could make the penguins.
Once I had my diagram all pathetically drawn out, I excitedly ran over to the electronics department to annoy tell my other co-worker about my penguin cupcake idea. He was all, "Laine, it so won't work." To which I replied, "fuck you, Oma; It'll work!" So we jab, jab, jabbered about how my cupcake idea would fail and the awesomeness of brownies with slightly nuked cookie dough spread on top. Yeah, I don't know either, but apparently he loves it.
When I got home last night, I had a new eagerness to make some cupcakes because I wanted to prove my co-worker wrong and show him that I could make a penguin out of cupcakes.
I went to the store today and bought a Funfetti cake mix (knife through my baker's heart, but I didn't have time to make one from scratch today) and some icing. I was going to buy some food coloring to make some vanilla icing black because I don't like chocolate, but food coloring is bloody expensive, so I ended up buying strawberry icing to use for the black feathers.
I got home and baked the cake, waited until they cooled and stared at said plain cakes trying to figure out how to decorate them without messing up the icing too badly. I usually stick to sheet cakes and round cakes, not shaped cakes, so I had no idea how to go about starting this.
I started by taking two of the full sized cupcakes and cutting off the top part.
I took those and placed one on top of the other, upside down, with a small layer of icing between them.
I then took the mini cupcake and turned it upside down and placed it on top of the other two with a little layer of icing between them.
After that, I placed some of the strawberry icing in some sandwich baggies and made icing pipes out of them. I piped some stripes of icing vertically across the body.
I then took the flat side of a butter knife and spread the icing using long strokes from the bottom to the top.
I did the same with the top and the belly and piped a strawberry line across the neck.
I then took some Christmas piping gel (yay, leftovers!) and made a sparkly red beak and some sparkly green eyes.
That's how my first one turned out. He kept wanted to fall back, though, because the back was heavier than the front. That's why the knife is sitting behind it. I had a thicker layer of icing in the back, so I took a Sour Patch Kid and shoved it under the penguin's butt so he would stand on his own.
My second attempt was a little better. I followed the same method as stated above, except instead of lines, I piped dots and spread the dots, and I added some feet made out of the heads of orange Sour Patch Kids.
Here's how he turned out.
My final attempt is my favorite. I tried to add some stability to the penguin by placing tooth picks in the cakes before icing them together. The first two leaned a little bit, but this one stayed true, so I guess it worked. YAY!
I did the same as I did with the second one, but instead of spreading out the dots, I left them that way. I think he looks the best.
From the side.
And a picture of all three of them together. I love seeing the differences in them from my first attempt to my third.
Take that, Oma! I did it!
All in all, I'm pretty proud of my penguin cupcakes. I think they're adorable. I would like to try again eventually. Maybe make them all like the third one. Who knows?